About House Our Future NY

New York City is in the midst of the worst homelessness crisis since the Great Depression, with nearly 64,000 people – including 23,000 children – sleeping in shelters each night. In order to match the unprecedented need, the City must employ every available affordable housing resource. Mayor de Blasio must align his historic Housing New York plan with the reality of record homelessness by immediately increasing the total number of housing units created for homeless households to 30,000 – 10 percent of his overall 300,000-unit plan.

House Our Future NY is an advocacy campaign formed by the Coalition for the Homeless and 63 partner organizations (and counting!), as well as homeless men, women, and children and other caring New Yorkers. We are asking Mayor de Blasio for 30,000 new units of affordable, permanent housing for homeless New Yorkers by 2026, with 24,000 of these units to be created through new construction.

Some housing advocates have criticized the plan for setting aside too few units—around 5% of the total under the current plan—for homeless New Yorkers. “The number is paltry,” said Giselle Routhier, the policy director at Coalition for the Homeless....Read more

The legislation, introduced by Council Member Rafael Salamanca, would require developments receiving city subsidies to set aside 15 percent of housing units for the homeless. Proponents say increased housing supply is needed to address the city’s enduring homelessness crisis, but the de Blasio administration argues the bill would hinder its ability to produce affordable housing....Read more

Increasing the number of affordable apartments set aside for homeless New Yorkers from 15,000 to 30,000 is necessary and achievable, and would mark an important step at the municipal level to make a dent in homelessness....Read more

The advocates from the campaign House Our Future NY have asked the city to increase the total number of housing units for homeless households to 30,000, adding that 24,000 of those units should be new construction. The campaign supports Salamanca’s bill because it helps to meet the campaign’s goals....Read more

“It’s clear that we as a City need bold strokes to help our fellow New Yorkers out of homelessness,” said Councilman Rafael Salamanca Jr. “New York City has reached a record high population of homeless people sleeping in shelters nightly and this all happened under (Mayor Bill de Blasio’s) watch. His housing plan is clearly not serving some of the neediest New Yorkers, and I hope today’s hearing on my bill brings us one step closer to addressing this crisis.”...Read more

As Mayor Bill de Blasio continues to defend his housing plan against critics who say it leaves out the city’s most vulnerable populations, the City Council is taking up a bill that would force a dramatic increase in housing built for the homeless....Read more

City Council members, Coalition for the Homeless, VOCAL-NY, Urban Pathways and other advocacy groups stood on City Hall steps today to call on the administration to commit to more housing for the homeless. The Committee on Housing and Buildings held an oversight hearing today and heard testimony from the administration and the public on Council Member Salamanca’s bill, Intro 1211 which would require developers who receive any city dollars to set aside at least 15% of the units for the homeless....Read more

Advocates with the House Our Future NY coalition and homeless New Yorkers joined faith leaders for a candlelight vigil outside of City Hall today to urge Mayor de Blasio to increase the number of apartments set aside for homeless New Yorkers in his Housing New York 2.0 affordable housing plan to 30,000 units, with 24,000 units to be created through new construction....Read more

The group of demonstrators first sought to block the entrance to the mayor’s wing of City Hall. When police didn’t arrest them, they tried the front door. When that didn’t work, they split up and blocked all three doors to City Hall’s main entrance....Read more

Homeless New Yorkers, elected officials, housing advocates, and supporters joined the Coalition for the Homeless, VOCAL-NY, Housing Works, Neighbors Together, and several other groups today as they staged a sit-in at City Hall to demand Mayor de Blasio dedicate 30,000 units of his affordable housing plan for homeless New Yorkers, including 24,000 units to be created through new construction....Read more

This paper addresses claims Mayor de Blasio has made regarding the House Our Future NY Campaign and elaborates on the current state of homelessness, the need for more housing, and the mechanisms for achieving our goals....Read more

The progressive mayor who campaigned to end the “tale of two cities” has responded dismissively, sometimes with anger – and always with a series of excuses that don’t hold up to closer examination. Let’s take a look....Read more

Routhier pointed to a letter signed by members of the city government and about 60 organizations joining the [House Our Future NY] call. “Having those housing resources available in order to offer someone who’s on the streets a real option for getting off the streets is what’s most important,” she said, encouraging concerned residents to support this initiative....Read more

On air, she reproached the mayor for opposing a proposal by Bronx Councilman Rafael Salamanca, chairman of the Committee on Land Use, that would obligate developers of city-subsidized buildings to set aside 15% of units for the indigent....Read more

This time, Nathylin Flowers Adesegun, who goes by Flowers, elicited a resounding “no” from the mayor after she asked him to support a City Council proposal that would require developers to set aside 15 percent of units for homeless New Yorkers....Read more

After the Salamanca legislation was introduced several dozen homeless advocates rallied on the steps of City Hall including Nathylin Flowers Adesegun, a resident of a Long Island City shelter for the past three years who generated headlines last month when she challenged Mayor Bill de Blasio on the issue as he worked out at his gym....Read more

“When are you going to get with us, do what’s right for homeless New Yorkers by doing the modest thing we’re asking, to set aside — only 10 percent — 30,000 units of housing from your affordable housing plan for homeless New Yorkers.”...Read more

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio takes calls from listeners. Nathylin Flowers Adesegun, who confronted the Mayor at the gym, calls in. Asks him to set aside more resources for housing the homeless....Read more

Salamanca was also joined by Councilmembers Stephen Levin, Vanessa Gibson and Jumaane Williams (who is running for public advocate), along with former Council Speaker Christine Quinn —now the CEO of the homeless services organization Women in Need —as well as representatives of the Coalition for the Homeless, Housing Works and other organizations....Read more

At today’s City Council Stated Meeting, Council Member Salamanca will introduce a new bill that would require developers who receive city financial assistance for rental housing development projects to set aside no less than 15% of created or preserved dwelling units for homeless individuals and families. ...Read more

Rafael Salamanca Jr., a councilman from the Bronx, will introduce legislation on Wednesday that will mandate that any rental housing project that receives taxpayer subsidies — such as tax abatements, loans, tax credits or reduced-cost land — has to set aside 15 percent of its created or preserved units for people living in the city’s shelter system....Read more

Advocacy groups involved in Wednesday's march agreed that helping 100,000 New Yorkers avoid the shelter system is a positive achievement, but said the administration's plan to address homelessness fails when it comes to creating new housing....Read more

Hundreds of homeless New Yorkers, housing advocates and supporters joined the Coalition for the Homeless, VOCAL-NY, Housing Works and dozens of other groups today as they marched on Gracie Mansion to demand Mayor de Blasio dedicate 30,000 units of his affordable housing plan for homeless New Yorkers, including 24,000 units to be created through new construction....Read more

Homeless advocates are planning to march on Gracie Mansion today. The House Our Future March will start at the intersection of 86th Street and Second Avenue at 11 a.m., before proceeding to the official residence of Mayor Bill de Blasio....Read more

Homeless individuals and advocates will speak about the extreme urgency of the need outside of the Mayor’s home, where campaign members will also deliver a petition with over 1,000 signatures....Read more

The video of the YMCA confrontation spread all over the internet. In response, the mayor dug his heels in. He refused to commit more housing for homeless people in his city and he criticized me for trying to talk to him at the gym....Read more

“There’s no way to fully predict this, but I think that if we don’t do this, if we don’t increase the set-aside, we’re likely not going to get out of this shelter population plateau for potentially years.”...Read more

Mr. de Blasio didn’t attend, but the group met with senior city officials from the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the Department of Social Services and the mayor’s office. “They did a lot of listening, but they told us they couldn’t commit to anything in the meeting,” she said....Read more

Mayor Bill de Blasio was a no-show at a City Hall meeting with a homeless woman who confronted him earlier at the Park Slope Y, so she says she’s going to stake him out again, this time at Gracie Mansion....Read more

“We’ve asked the mayor … 'Will you do this? Will you dedicate 10 percent?' And he’s flat out said no,” said Giselle Routhier, policy director for the Coalition for the Homeless told ABC News. “What we’re really trying to highlight here is this goes against this progressive values. He’s failed on this.”...Read more

“Out of 300,000 units in your affordable housing program, only 5 percent will go to the homeless: Can you look me in the eye and tell me why?” Ms. Adesegun asks as Mr. de Blasio tries to cut her off....Read more

“Can you look me in the eye and tell me why,” the woman asked him. Then a second woman who was recording the encounter shouts, “why can't you commit more housing for homeless New Yorkers Mayor de Blasio? Five percent, five percent isn't adequate. We need more housing for homeless New Yorkers."...Read more

“I shook the Mayor’s hand this morning, and asked why he wouldn’t do more to help homeless New Yorkers like myself,” Adesegun said in a statement following the rally. “I am 72 years old and have been homeless for three years, but he made it clear that his morning workout was more important to him.”...Read more

But the mayor is not claiming that any of these efforts will rehouse 61,000 people. That would be deceitful. What he’s telling us instead, unabashedly, is that he has no real plan to put people back in homes and that doing so is not his priority....Read more

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio takes calls from listeners. Paulette from Brooklyn asks the Mayor to commit 10% of the units in his affordable housing plan to homeless New Yorkers, with 24,000 of those units to be created through new construction....Read more

The Coalition for the Homeless criticized the fact that the number of [subsidized housing] units for homeless people decreased to 2,318 in fiscal year 2018, down 12 percent from the year before, though it is the second most since 2014....Read more

Giselle Routhier, policy director at Coalition for the Homeless, said the shelter population hasn’t decreased that much because there are so few permanent housing options in the city: "There’s not enough units to meet that need."...Read more

In many of the nation’s big cities, hunger and homelessness remain rampant. But given that de Blasio is enacting so many progressive policies to combat poverty, why are these problems still pervasive here?...Read more

"The fundamental reason for homelessness is a lack of affordable housing. The mayor’s housing plan doesn’t match the scale of the homelessness problem,” said Shelly Nortz, deputy executive director for policy at Coalition for the Homeless. ...Read more

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio takes calls from listeners. Dennis from Staten Island asks the Mayor to commit 10% of the units in his affordable housing plan to homeless New Yorkers, with 24,000 of those units to be created through new construction....Read more

Giselle Routhier spoke with Joel Berg and Jeff Simmons on their WBAI radio show City Watch. The interview contextualized how past policy failures and the loss of affordable housing have contributed to record homelessness, and highlighted the urgency underlying the House Our Future NY campaign. ...Read more

Why has the homeless population mushroomed, and in a city where property values and rents are so high, and are steadily rising, can the homeless problem ever be solved? Our guest is Giselle Routhier, policy director at the Coalition for the Homeless. She says New York needs to embrace bolder solutions to address this problem....Read more

A week before the Day of Action, on June 7, more than 100 children, including many from New York City homeless shelters, joined the Coalition for the Homeless and other advocates in marching to City Hall, using pictures of homes and Lego houses to “demand that the city dedicate 30,000 units of its Housing New York 2.0 plan to homeless households, including 24,000 units created through new construction.”...Read more

The House Our Future NY campaign has garnered endorsements from 57 organizations, many of which sent a letter to Mayor de Blasio on April 23rd. Now, a group of 32 Council Members, 4 Borough Presidents, the Public Advocate, and the Comptroller have echoed this request in a new letter asking the Mayor to set aside 10 percent of his housing plan, or 30,000 units of permanent housing, for homeless New Yorkers....Read more

A slew of New York City elected officials have signed on to a letter urging Mayor Bill de Blasio to step up his commitment to combating homelessness by doubling the amount of units apportioned to the city's homeless population....Read more

More than one hundred children, including dozens from New York City homeless shelters, joined the Coalition for the Homeless and other advocates in marching to City Hall today, using pictures of homes and Lego houses to demand that the City dedicate 30,000 units of its Housing New York 2.0 plan to homeless households, including 24,000 units created through new construction....Read more

The Coalition for the Homeless and more than 40 other groups have sent a letter to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, calling on him to dedicate 30,000 units – some 10 percent – of his housing plan to homeless New Yorkers. ...Read more

On Monday, the Coalition for the Homeless and a group of 43 organizations sent a letter to Mayor de Blasio calling on him to dedicate 30,000 units of his Housing New York 2.0 plan to homeless New Yorkers, or 10 percent of the total 300,000-unit plan....Read more

Coalition for the Homeless Policy Director Giselle Routhier visited the Max & Murphy podcast for a wide-ranging conversation on the policies needed to effectively combat record homelessness....Read more

"Permanent housing has given me the mindset, as well as the actual opportunity, to do better and be better."...Read more

Add Your Organization to the Campaign

The Coalition for the Homeless recently launched House Our Future NY to call on Mayor de Blasio to increase the number of permanent affordable housing units set aside for homeless New Yorkers, and we would like to invite your organization to join our campaign.

Currently, only 15,000 units of the Mayor’s 300,000-unit Housing NY 2.0 plan are set aside for homeless families and individuals, despite record homelessness in New York City. We are urging the Mayor to immediately direct his housing development agencies to increase the total number of housing units for homeless households to 30,000, with 24,000 of these units financed and created as new construction. We officially launched this campaign with the release of a policy brief in January, and reiterated the request in our annual State of the Homeless report in March.

In order to amplify this critical housing goal, we want to include our allies: organizations serving homeless families, single adults, people with disabilities, domestic violence survivors, and runaway and homeless youth. We are soliciting organizational partners to sign on to the campaign and help with organizing grassroots support for our future multi-pronged advocacy efforts including rallies and other public actions.

The Ali Forney Center
Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health
Banana Kelly Community Improvement Association, Inc.
Barrier Free Living
Broadway Housing Communities
Bronx Health & Housing Consortium
Care for the Homeless
The Church of the Village (NYC)
CitiLeaf Housing
Citizens’ Committee for Children
Coalition for Homeless Youth
Coalition for the Homeless
College and Community Fellowship
The Collegiate Churches of New York
Community Access
Community Service Society
Comunilife
Covenant House New York
Emergency Shelter Network
Encore Community Services
Gateway Housing
GEMS
Harm Reduction Coalition
Henry Street Settlement
Homeless Services United
Hope’s Door
Housing Conservation Coordinators
Housing Works
Human.nyc
Hunger Action Network of NYS
Hunger Free America
Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing
Kingdom Faith Developers
Lab/Shul
The Legal Aid Society
Mekong NYC
Midtown South Community Council
Mutual Housing Association of NY (MHANY)
My Dog is My Home
National Working Positive Coalition
Neighborhood Coalition for Shelter
Neighbors Together
New Destiny Housing
New York Communities for Change
New York Society for Ethical Culture
New York State Council of Churches
Partnership for the Homeless
Pax Christi Metro New York
Picture the Homeless
Presbyterian Church (USA)
Safe Horizon
Services for the UnderServed
Sisters of Charity of New York
Society for the Advancement of Judaism
St Ann’s Church of Morrisania
Strong Families Deliverance Ministries Inc.
Tenants & Neighbors
Tenants Political Action Committee
University Settlement and The Door
Urban Justice Center
Urban Pathways
VOCAL NY
WE ACT For Environmental Justice
Win

Council Member Stephen Levin (Chair, Committee on General Welfare)
Former Public Advocate Letitia James
Comptroller Scott M. Stringer
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams
Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer
Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr.
Queens Borough President Melinda Katz
Council Member Ben Kallos (Co-Chair, Progressive Caucus)
Council Member Keith Powers (Vice Co-Chair, Progressive Caucus)
Council Member Carlos Menchaca (Vice Co-Chair, Progressive Caucus)
Council Member Adrienne Adams
Council Member Alicka Ampry-Samuel
Council Member Diana Ayala
Council Member Inez Barron
Council Member Fernando Cabrera
Council Member Margaret Chin
Council Member Andrew Cohen
Council Member Costa Constantinides
Council Member Robert Cornegy
Council Member Rafael Espinal
Council Member Mathieu Eugene
Council Member Vanessa Gibson
Council Member Barry Grodenchik
Council Member Robert Holden
Council Member Peter Koo
Council Member Brad Lander
Council Member Mark Levine
Council Member I. Daneek Miller
Council Member Francisco Moya
Council Member Bill Perkins
Council Member Antonio Reynoso
Council Member Donovan J. Richards
Council Member Carlina Rivera
Council Member Helen Rosenthal
Council Member Rafael Salamanca
Council Member Ritchie Torres
Council Member Mark Treyger
Council Member James Van Bramer
Council Member Jumaane Williams

About House Our Future NY

New York City is in the midst of the worst homelessness crisis since the Great Depression, with nearly 64,000 people – including 23,000 children – sleeping in shelters each night. In order to match the unprecedented need, the City must employ every available affordable housing resource. Mayor de Blasio must align his historic Housing New York plan with the reality of record homelessness by immediately increasing the total number of housing units created for homeless households to 30,000 – 10 percent of his overall 300,000-unit plan.

House Our Future NY is an advocacy campaign formed by the Coalition for the Homeless and 63 partner organizations (and counting!), as well as homeless men, women, and children and other caring New Yorkers. We are asking Mayor de Blasio for 30,000 new units of affordable, permanent housing for homeless New Yorkers by 2026, with 24,000 of these units to be created through new construction.

Some housing advocates have criticized the plan for setting aside too few units—around 5% of the total under the current plan—for homeless New Yorkers. “The number is paltry,” said Giselle Routhier, the policy director at Coalition for the Homeless....Read more

The legislation, introduced by Council Member Rafael Salamanca, would require developments receiving city subsidies to set aside 15 percent of housing units for the homeless. Proponents say increased housing supply is needed to address the city’s enduring homelessness crisis, but the de Blasio administration argues the bill would hinder its ability to produce affordable housing....Read more

Increasing the number of affordable apartments set aside for homeless New Yorkers from 15,000 to 30,000 is necessary and achievable, and would mark an important step at the municipal level to make a dent in homelessness....Read more

The advocates from the campaign House Our Future NY have asked the city to increase the total number of housing units for homeless households to 30,000, adding that 24,000 of those units should be new construction. The campaign supports Salamanca’s bill because it helps to meet the campaign’s goals....Read more

“It’s clear that we as a City need bold strokes to help our fellow New Yorkers out of homelessness,” said Councilman Rafael Salamanca Jr. “New York City has reached a record high population of homeless people sleeping in shelters nightly and this all happened under (Mayor Bill de Blasio’s) watch. His housing plan is clearly not serving some of the neediest New Yorkers, and I hope today’s hearing on my bill brings us one step closer to addressing this crisis.”...Read more

As Mayor Bill de Blasio continues to defend his housing plan against critics who say it leaves out the city’s most vulnerable populations, the City Council is taking up a bill that would force a dramatic increase in housing built for the homeless....Read more

City Council members, Coalition for the Homeless, VOCAL-NY, Urban Pathways and other advocacy groups stood on City Hall steps today to call on the administration to commit to more housing for the homeless. The Committee on Housing and Buildings held an oversight hearing today and heard testimony from the administration and the public on Council Member Salamanca’s bill, Intro 1211 which would require developers who receive any city dollars to set aside at least 15% of the units for the homeless....Read more

Advocates with the House Our Future NY coalition and homeless New Yorkers joined faith leaders for a candlelight vigil outside of City Hall today to urge Mayor de Blasio to increase the number of apartments set aside for homeless New Yorkers in his Housing New York 2.0 affordable housing plan to 30,000 units, with 24,000 units to be created through new construction....Read more

The group of demonstrators first sought to block the entrance to the mayor’s wing of City Hall. When police didn’t arrest them, they tried the front door. When that didn’t work, they split up and blocked all three doors to City Hall’s main entrance....Read more

Homeless New Yorkers, elected officials, housing advocates, and supporters joined the Coalition for the Homeless, VOCAL-NY, Housing Works, Neighbors Together, and several other groups today as they staged a sit-in at City Hall to demand Mayor de Blasio dedicate 30,000 units of his affordable housing plan for homeless New Yorkers, including 24,000 units to be created through new construction....Read more

This paper addresses claims Mayor de Blasio has made regarding the House Our Future NY Campaign and elaborates on the current state of homelessness, the need for more housing, and the mechanisms for achieving our goals....Read more

The progressive mayor who campaigned to end the “tale of two cities” has responded dismissively, sometimes with anger – and always with a series of excuses that don’t hold up to closer examination. Let’s take a look....Read more

Routhier pointed to a letter signed by members of the city government and about 60 organizations joining the [House Our Future NY] call. “Having those housing resources available in order to offer someone who’s on the streets a real option for getting off the streets is what’s most important,” she said, encouraging concerned residents to support this initiative....Read more

On air, she reproached the mayor for opposing a proposal by Bronx Councilman Rafael Salamanca, chairman of the Committee on Land Use, that would obligate developers of city-subsidized buildings to set aside 15% of units for the indigent....Read more

This time, Nathylin Flowers Adesegun, who goes by Flowers, elicited a resounding “no” from the mayor after she asked him to support a City Council proposal that would require developers to set aside 15 percent of units for homeless New Yorkers....Read more

After the Salamanca legislation was introduced several dozen homeless advocates rallied on the steps of City Hall including Nathylin Flowers Adesegun, a resident of a Long Island City shelter for the past three years who generated headlines last month when she challenged Mayor Bill de Blasio on the issue as he worked out at his gym....Read more

“When are you going to get with us, do what’s right for homeless New Yorkers by doing the modest thing we’re asking, to set aside — only 10 percent — 30,000 units of housing from your affordable housing plan for homeless New Yorkers.”...Read more

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio takes calls from listeners. Nathylin Flowers Adesegun, who confronted the Mayor at the gym, calls in. Asks him to set aside more resources for housing the homeless....Read more

Salamanca was also joined by Councilmembers Stephen Levin, Vanessa Gibson and Jumaane Williams (who is running for public advocate), along with former Council Speaker Christine Quinn —now the CEO of the homeless services organization Women in Need —as well as representatives of the Coalition for the Homeless, Housing Works and other organizations....Read more

At today’s City Council Stated Meeting, Council Member Salamanca will introduce a new bill that would require developers who receive city financial assistance for rental housing development projects to set aside no less than 15% of created or preserved dwelling units for homeless individuals and families. ...Read more

Rafael Salamanca Jr., a councilman from the Bronx, will introduce legislation on Wednesday that will mandate that any rental housing project that receives taxpayer subsidies — such as tax abatements, loans, tax credits or reduced-cost land — has to set aside 15 percent of its created or preserved units for people living in the city’s shelter system....Read more

Advocacy groups involved in Wednesday's march agreed that helping 100,000 New Yorkers avoid the shelter system is a positive achievement, but said the administration's plan to address homelessness fails when it comes to creating new housing....Read more

Hundreds of homeless New Yorkers, housing advocates and supporters joined the Coalition for the Homeless, VOCAL-NY, Housing Works and dozens of other groups today as they marched on Gracie Mansion to demand Mayor de Blasio dedicate 30,000 units of his affordable housing plan for homeless New Yorkers, including 24,000 units to be created through new construction....Read more

Homeless advocates are planning to march on Gracie Mansion today. The House Our Future March will start at the intersection of 86th Street and Second Avenue at 11 a.m., before proceeding to the official residence of Mayor Bill de Blasio....Read more

Homeless individuals and advocates will speak about the extreme urgency of the need outside of the Mayor’s home, where campaign members will also deliver a petition with over 1,000 signatures....Read more

The video of the YMCA confrontation spread all over the internet. In response, the mayor dug his heels in. He refused to commit more housing for homeless people in his city and he criticized me for trying to talk to him at the gym....Read more

“There’s no way to fully predict this, but I think that if we don’t do this, if we don’t increase the set-aside, we’re likely not going to get out of this shelter population plateau for potentially years.”...Read more

Mr. de Blasio didn’t attend, but the group met with senior city officials from the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the Department of Social Services and the mayor’s office. “They did a lot of listening, but they told us they couldn’t commit to anything in the meeting,” she said....Read more

Mayor Bill de Blasio was a no-show at a City Hall meeting with a homeless woman who confronted him earlier at the Park Slope Y, so she says she’s going to stake him out again, this time at Gracie Mansion....Read more

“We’ve asked the mayor … 'Will you do this? Will you dedicate 10 percent?' And he’s flat out said no,” said Giselle Routhier, policy director for the Coalition for the Homeless told ABC News. “What we’re really trying to highlight here is this goes against this progressive values. He’s failed on this.”...Read more

“Out of 300,000 units in your affordable housing program, only 5 percent will go to the homeless: Can you look me in the eye and tell me why?” Ms. Adesegun asks as Mr. de Blasio tries to cut her off....Read more

“Can you look me in the eye and tell me why,” the woman asked him. Then a second woman who was recording the encounter shouts, “why can't you commit more housing for homeless New Yorkers Mayor de Blasio? Five percent, five percent isn't adequate. We need more housing for homeless New Yorkers."...Read more

“I shook the Mayor’s hand this morning, and asked why he wouldn’t do more to help homeless New Yorkers like myself,” Adesegun said in a statement following the rally. “I am 72 years old and have been homeless for three years, but he made it clear that his morning workout was more important to him.”...Read more

But the mayor is not claiming that any of these efforts will rehouse 61,000 people. That would be deceitful. What he’s telling us instead, unabashedly, is that he has no real plan to put people back in homes and that doing so is not his priority....Read more

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio takes calls from listeners. Paulette from Brooklyn asks the Mayor to commit 10% of the units in his affordable housing plan to homeless New Yorkers, with 24,000 of those units to be created through new construction....Read more

The Coalition for the Homeless criticized the fact that the number of [subsidized housing] units for homeless people decreased to 2,318 in fiscal year 2018, down 12 percent from the year before, though it is the second most since 2014....Read more

Giselle Routhier, policy director at Coalition for the Homeless, said the shelter population hasn’t decreased that much because there are so few permanent housing options in the city: "There’s not enough units to meet that need."...Read more

In many of the nation’s big cities, hunger and homelessness remain rampant. But given that de Blasio is enacting so many progressive policies to combat poverty, why are these problems still pervasive here?...Read more

"The fundamental reason for homelessness is a lack of affordable housing. The mayor’s housing plan doesn’t match the scale of the homelessness problem,” said Shelly Nortz, deputy executive director for policy at Coalition for the Homeless. ...Read more

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio takes calls from listeners. Dennis from Staten Island asks the Mayor to commit 10% of the units in his affordable housing plan to homeless New Yorkers, with 24,000 of those units to be created through new construction....Read more

Giselle Routhier spoke with Joel Berg and Jeff Simmons on their WBAI radio show City Watch. The interview contextualized how past policy failures and the loss of affordable housing have contributed to record homelessness, and highlighted the urgency underlying the House Our Future NY campaign. ...Read more

Why has the homeless population mushroomed, and in a city where property values and rents are so high, and are steadily rising, can the homeless problem ever be solved? Our guest is Giselle Routhier, policy director at the Coalition for the Homeless. She says New York needs to embrace bolder solutions to address this problem....Read more

A week before the Day of Action, on June 7, more than 100 children, including many from New York City homeless shelters, joined the Coalition for the Homeless and other advocates in marching to City Hall, using pictures of homes and Lego houses to “demand that the city dedicate 30,000 units of its Housing New York 2.0 plan to homeless households, including 24,000 units created through new construction.”...Read more

The House Our Future NY campaign has garnered endorsements from 57 organizations, many of which sent a letter to Mayor de Blasio on April 23rd. Now, a group of 32 Council Members, 4 Borough Presidents, the Public Advocate, and the Comptroller have echoed this request in a new letter asking the Mayor to set aside 10 percent of his housing plan, or 30,000 units of permanent housing, for homeless New Yorkers....Read more

A slew of New York City elected officials have signed on to a letter urging Mayor Bill de Blasio to step up his commitment to combating homelessness by doubling the amount of units apportioned to the city's homeless population....Read more

More than one hundred children, including dozens from New York City homeless shelters, joined the Coalition for the Homeless and other advocates in marching to City Hall today, using pictures of homes and Lego houses to demand that the City dedicate 30,000 units of its Housing New York 2.0 plan to homeless households, including 24,000 units created through new construction....Read more

The Coalition for the Homeless and more than 40 other groups have sent a letter to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, calling on him to dedicate 30,000 units – some 10 percent – of his housing plan to homeless New Yorkers. ...Read more

On Monday, the Coalition for the Homeless and a group of 43 organizations sent a letter to Mayor de Blasio calling on him to dedicate 30,000 units of his Housing New York 2.0 plan to homeless New Yorkers, or 10 percent of the total 300,000-unit plan....Read more

Coalition for the Homeless Policy Director Giselle Routhier visited the Max & Murphy podcast for a wide-ranging conversation on the policies needed to effectively combat record homelessness....Read more

Add Your Organization to the Campaign

The Coalition for the Homeless recently launched House Our Future NY to call on Mayor de Blasio to increase the number of permanent affordable housing units set aside for homeless New Yorkers, and we would like to invite your organization to join our campaign.

Currently, only 15,000 units of the Mayor’s 300,000-unit Housing NY 2.0 plan are set aside for homeless families and individuals, despite record homelessness in New York City. We are urging the Mayor to immediately direct his housing development agencies to increase the total number of housing units for homeless households to 30,000, with 24,000 of these units financed and created as new construction. We officially launched this campaign with the release of a policy brief in January, and reiterated the request in our annual State of the Homeless report in March.

In order to amplify this critical housing goal, we want to include our allies: organizations serving homeless families, single adults, people with disabilities, domestic violence survivors, and runaway and homeless youth. We are soliciting organizational partners to sign on to the campaign and help with organizing grassroots support for our future multi-pronged advocacy efforts including rallies and other public actions.

The Ali Forney Center
Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health
Banana Kelly Community Improvement Association, Inc.
Barrier Free Living
Broadway Housing Communities
Bronx Health & Housing Consortium
Care for the Homeless
The Church of the Village (NYC)
CitiLeaf Housing
Citizens’ Committee for Children
Coalition for Homeless Youth
Coalition for the Homeless
College and Community Fellowship
The Collegiate Churches of New York
Community Access
Community Service Society
Comunilife
Covenant House New York
Emergency Shelter Network
Encore Community Services
Gateway Housing
GEMS
Harm Reduction Coalition
Henry Street Settlement
Homeless Services United
Hope’s Door
Housing Conservation Coordinators
Housing Works
Human.nyc
Hunger Action Network of NYS
Hunger Free America
Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing
Kingdom Faith Developers
Lab/Shul
The Legal Aid Society
Mekong NYC
Midtown South Community Council
Mutual Housing Association of NY (MHANY)
My Dog is My Home
National Working Positive Coalition
Neighborhood Coalition for Shelter
Neighbors Together
New Destiny Housing
New York Communities for Change
New York Society for Ethical Culture
New York State Council of Churches
Partnership for the Homeless
Pax Christi Metro New York
Picture the Homeless
Presbyterian Church (USA)
Safe Horizon
Services for the UnderServed
Sisters of Charity of New York
Society for the Advancement of Judaism
St Ann’s Church of Morrisania
Strong Families Deliverance Ministries Inc.
Tenants & Neighbors
Tenants Political Action Committee
University Settlement and The Door
Urban Justice Center
Urban Pathways
VOCAL NY
WE ACT For Environmental Justice
Win

Council Member Stephen Levin (Chair, Committee on General Welfare)
Former Public Advocate Letitia James
Comptroller Scott M. Stringer
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams
Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer
Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr.
Queens Borough President Melinda Katz
Council Member Ben Kallos (Co-Chair, Progressive Caucus)
Council Member Keith Powers (Vice Co-Chair, Progressive Caucus)
Council Member Carlos Menchaca (Vice Co-Chair, Progressive Caucus)
Council Member Adrienne Adams
Council Member Alicka Ampry-Samuel
Council Member Diana Ayala
Council Member Inez Barron
Council Member Fernando Cabrera
Council Member Margaret Chin
Council Member Andrew Cohen
Council Member Costa Constantinides
Council Member Robert Cornegy
Council Member Rafael Espinal
Council Member Mathieu Eugene
Council Member Vanessa Gibson
Council Member Barry Grodenchik
Council Member Robert Holden
Council Member Peter Koo
Council Member Brad Lander
Council Member Mark Levine
Council Member I. Daneek Miller
Council Member Francisco Moya
Council Member Bill Perkins
Council Member Antonio Reynoso
Council Member Donovan J. Richards
Council Member Carlina Rivera
Council Member Helen Rosenthal
Council Member Rafael Salamanca
Council Member Ritchie Torres
Council Member Mark Treyger
Council Member James Van Bramer
Council Member Jumaane Williams